Clamp and vise

ABSTRACT

A clamp or vise, having opposed first and second clamp face means carried by a slidable and fixed clamp section, respectively, the slidable section being slidable along a pair of opposed guide members, having a brake member disposed therebetween and gripped thereby when said guide members are pressed toward each other by a tilting of the sliding clamp section responsive to clamping pressure of said clamp faces resultant from clamping screw pressure.

O Unlted States Patent 1 [111 3,836,137 Hostetter Sept. 17, 1974 [541 CLAMP AND VISE 1,783,713 12/1930 Holman 269/168 I t h H N [76] nven or 421); ostetter, Murray ebr Primary Examiner Roy Lake Assistant Examiner-Mark S. Bicks [22] F1led: Oct. 1, 1973 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Hiram A. Sturges [21] Appl. No.: 402,108

[57] ABSTRACT A clamp or vise, having opposed first and second Clamp face means carried y a slidable and fixed [58] Field 168 169 clamp section, respectively, the slidable section being "269/170 1 slidable along a pair of opposed guide members, having a brake member disposed therebetween and [56] References Cited gripped thereby when said guide members are pressed toward each other by a tilting of the sliding clamp sec- UNITED STATES PATENTS tion responsive to clamping pressure of said clamp 735,947 8/1903 C011 269/166 faces resultant from clamping crew pressure 1,136,473 4/1915 Long 269/167 1,708,617 4/1929 Hargrave 269/166 5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures CLAMP AND VISE FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention is in the field of clamps or vises of the type having a sliding clamp section adapted to press against guide means at times when the clamping section is tilted, resultant from clamping screw pressure forcing the clamp faces against each other.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART In the prior art various clamps have been devised of the type defined in the above stated definition of this field. However, the disadvantage of such clamps has been that the binding pressure of tilting of the sliding clamp section is often not sufficient to firmly hold. For this reason it has been common in the prior art to add additional means to assist the sliding section of the clamp to grip the guide means more surely. An example of such an additional means is to be found in US. Pat. No. 707,680 issued Aug. 26, 1902 to W. T. DeWorth, titled: Clamp. In this patent the sliding section of the clamp is assisted in its gripping of the guide section by additional means in the form of a wedge operating in cooperation with an inclined surface on the inner side of the sliding section. However, the difficulty with an additional means of this nature is that the wedge itself becomes firmly held if it is to be effective, and the labor time necessary to readjust the position of the wedge is such as to make the desired quick action of such a tool unattainable. In addition adjustment is slow because a wedge in this position is not always easy to be reached and in some instances might require being struck with a hammer in order to loosen it.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an assisting feature in the form of an automatic brake which slides automatically along the guide means with the sliding clamp section and thereby requires no special position manipulation by the operator. The brake further automatically attaininga braking condition as a result of the clamp screw pressure, and without any additional manipulation being required of the operator to firmly set the brake, other than clamp screw manipulation which is itself necessary anyway.

Another distinction from the prior art is the achievement in the new clamp or vise of operation by means of a minimum of clamp screw rotation, whereby adjustment of the clamping faces is accomplished by only slight or partial rotation of the clamp screw made possible because there is substantially no slippage of the sliding clamp section because of the positive, automatic and firm operation of the brake itself, which latter is pinched between a two-section guide means. All other vises and clamps in this general field have had onesection guide means and have been without an automatic brake in my experience.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A clamp or vise, having opposed first and second clamp face means carried by a slidable and fixed clamp section, respectively, the slidable section being slidable along a pair of opposed guide members, having a brake member disposed therebetween and gripped thereby when said guide members are pressed toward each other by a tilting of the sliding clamp section responsive to clamping pressure of said clamp faces resultant from clamping screw pressure. The brake being provided with portions lapping the sliding clamp section on two ends of the brake so as to cause the brake to have a braking effect on the sliding clamp section so as to cause the brake to follow and move with the sliding clamp section, respectively.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the new clamp or vise of this invention with parts broken away or showing other parts, and with a work-piece shown in dotted lines.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the clamp or vise of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the brake member area taken along the line 33 of FIG. 1.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODI- MENT The clamp or vise of this invention is shown in side elevation, generally indicated at 10 in FIG. 1, and has a sliding first section, generally indicated at 12, and a second or fixed section generally indicated at 20, which latter are movable with respect to each other. Section 20 has a closed upper portion, generally indicated at 24, having a threaded opening 30 extending therethrough. A threaded clamp screw pressing assembly extends through the threaded opening 30 and is attached to a second clamp face member having a vertical surface 62 disposed parallel to a clamp surface 64 of a first clamp face member 58, which latter forms part of .the first clamp section 12.

The clamp face member 60 forms a part of the second clamp section 20.

The first clamp section 12 has an opening 74 therethrough, slidably receiving thereunder an upper guide member disposed spaced upwardly from a lower guide member 82, the guide members being spaced apart by a brake 90.

The brake is in the form of a plate having notches 92 in its right and left sides, the plate 90 being best seen in FIG. 3, which is taken along the line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

The opening 74 in the section 12 has a bottom edge 104 slidably receiving thereagainst the underside 108 of the lower guide 82, so that the guides 80 and 82 slide as a unit through the opening 74, which latter has an upper surface 118.

The entire sliding section 12 is adapted to slide back and forth on the guides 80 and 82, as indicated by the arrows labeled 200.

The lower guide 82 is fixed to the section 20 in a rigid manner. The upper guide 80 is fixed to the section 20 by a roll pin 230 extending through two sides 262 and 264 of the section 20, which latter are spaced apart for providing an aperture 270 therebetween in which the guides 80 and 82 are received.

Welding is shown at 320 for attaching a cross-piece 322 across the underside of two side members 350 of the section 12. It is the spacing of the side members 350 that makes possible the opening 74 for the guides 80 and 82, and a closure member 400 welded between the section 350 just above the opening 74 tends to form a wall defining the upper edge of the opening 74.

In operation, for example, a piece of sheet metal M, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1, is clamped between the surfaces 62 and 64. This is accomplished by quickly and freely sliding the section 12 to the right until it engages the sheet metal M. Next, the clamp screw assembly 50 is turned a very small amount by a crank 500 thereof to finish the clamping.

During the clamping, the section 12 will not move away from the section 20 because pressure at its upper end will tend to cause the undersurface of the part 400 to press downwardly on the upper guide 80, pressing the upper guide 80 downwardly against the brake 90 which, in turn, presses against the lower guide 82 and the latter presses against the upper surface of the cross member 322. In this way, there is a tendency for the section 12 to desirably bind against the upper and lower surfaces of the guides 80 and 82, respectively.

However, in addition to this desirable binding which is itself a force to keep the section 12 from sliding along the members 80 and 82 there is the new feature of the brake 90.

Pressure of the plates 80 and 82 against the brake 90 tends to prevent the brake 90 from any movement along the guides 80 and 82, whereby its four protruding end portions labeled 600 tend to receive the members 350 of section 12 to the end that the end portions 600, best seen in FIG. 3, on the left side of the section 12 tend to engage the vertical members 350 of the section 12, preventing it from moving to the left under the force of the screw 50.

And so the brake member 90 is a very important part of the new clamp or vise.

Those end portions 600 which are on the opposite side of the brake 90 from the fixed section 20 can be called retaining shoulder means because they retain the sliding section 10. Those end portions 600 which are on the fixed section 20 end of the brake 90 can be called follower shoulder means because they have the effect of causing the brake to follow the sliding section during its sliding motions.

By simply attaching the cross-piece 322 to a work bench in any suitable manner, the clamp 10 becomes a bench vise.

I claim:

1. A clamp having opposed first and second clamp face means carried respectively by a slidable and a fixed clamp section, a pair of elongated guide members having opposed surfaces, one of said opposed surfaces being on the opposite side of the other from said clamp face means, one of said guide members being on an opposite side of the other of said guide members from said clamp face means, said fixed clamp section being fixed to one of said guide members so as to be substantially immobile with respect to said one guide member, the other of said guide members being movably mounted on said fixed clamp section in a manner so that along the majority of the length of said opposed surfaces of said guide members said guide members are free to move toward and away from each other, said slidable clamp section having an opening therethrough receiving said guide members, the walls of said opening being such that said walls press against those sides of said guide members which are disposed on the opposite sides of said guide members respectively from said opposed surfaces at times when the first clamp face means attached to said slidable section is pressed from the direction of the second clamp face means, an adjustable pressing assembly movably interconnecting said second clamp face means and said first clamp face means and said adjustable pressing assembly being manually adjustable for moving said second clamp face means toward from said first clamp face means so as to press a work-piece against said first clamp face means, and a brake disposed between said opposing surfaces of said guide members, said brake having retaining shoulder means thereon lapping that side of said slidzmleclamp section which is farthest from said fixed clamp section whereby when said slidable clamp section presses said guide members toward each other said brake will be clamped between said opposing surfaces and said shoulder means will resist movement of said slidable clamp section away from said fixed clamp section.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said brake also has follower shoulder means lapping said slidable clamp section on that side of said slidable clamp section which is disposed closest to said fixed clamp section, whereby when said slidable clamp section is moved toward said fixed clamp section, said brake will automatically move with it.

3. The combination of claim 1 in which said pressing assembly is specifically a clamp screw assembly having a threaded shaft extending through a threaded opening in said fixed clamp section.

4. The combination of claim 1 in which that guide member which is movably mounted with respect to said fixed clamp section is specifically pivotally mounted on said fixed clamp section.

5. Thecombination of claim 1 in which said clamp sections each have two side portions disposed on opposite sides of said guide members, end wall means attaching said side portions of said slidable clamp section together, said end wall means comprising an end wall extending across that side of that one of said guide members which is farthest from said first clamp face means, and welding means interconnecting said end wall means to the side wall of said slidable clamp section. 

1. A clamp having opposed first and second clamp face means carried respectively by a slidable and a fixed clamp section, a pair of elongated guide members having opposed surfaces, one of said opposed surfaces being on the opposite side of the other from said clamp face means, one of said guide members being on an opposite side of the other of said guide members from said clamp face means, said fixed clamp section being fixed to one of said guide members so as to be substantially immobile with respect to said one guide member, the other of said guide members being movably mounted on said fixed clamp section in a manner so that along the majority of the length of said opposed surfaces of said guide members said guide members are free to move toward and away from each other, said slidable clamp section having an opening therethrough receiving said guide members, the walls of said opening being such that said walls press against those sides of said guide members which are disposed on the opposite sides of said guide members respectively from said opposed surfaces at times when the first clamp face means attached to said slidable section is pressed from the direction of the second clamp face means, an adjustable pressing assembly movably interconnecting said second clamp face means and said first clamp face means and said adjustable pressing assembly being manually adjustable for moving said second clamp face means toward from said first clamp face means so as to press a work-piece against said first clamp face means, and a brake disposed between said opposing surfaces of said guide members, said brake having retaining shoulder means thereon lapping that side of said slidable clamp section which is farthest from said fixed clamp section whereby when said slidable clamp section presses said guide members toward each other said brake will be clamped between said opposing surfaces and said shoulder means will resist movement of said slidable clamp section away from said fixed clamp section.
 2. The combination of claim 1 in which said brake also has follower shoulder means lapping said slidable clamp section on that side of said slidable clamp section which is disposed closest to said fixed clamp section, whereby when said slidable clamp section is moved toward said fixed clamp section, said brake will automatically move with it.
 3. The combination of claim 1 in which said pressing assembly is specifically a clamp screw assembly having a threaded shaft extending through a threaded opening in said fixed clamp section.
 4. The combination of claim 1 in which that guide member which is movably mounted with respect to said fixed clamp section is specifically pivotally mounted on said fixed clamp section.
 5. The combination of claim 1 in which said clamp sections each have two side portions disposed on opposite sides of said guide members, end wall means attaching said side portions of said slidable clamp section together, said end wall means comprising an end wall extending across that side of that one of said guide members which is farthest from said first clamp face means, and welding means interconnecting said end wall means to the side wall of said slidable clamp section. 